Best MLB Players 2020: Ranking The Top 25 Baseball Stars For The 60-Game Season

After suspending spring training and months of negotiations between team owners and the MLBPA, the league finally settled on a 60-game season. Baseball will be very different this year—assuming it’s played—and the top stars could take on even more importance during a shortened schedule.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the World Series favorites with two of the top-10 players in baseball. The Houston Astros have won the AL in two of the last three years with a few of the league’s best players on their roster. The Los Angeles Angels are hoping to have a big year with two top-10 players on their team this year.

Here is a ranking of the 25 best players for the 2020 MLB season.

1) Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

Trout could very well go down as the greatest baseball player of all time. The reigning AL MVP has won the award three times with four second-place finishes in his nine career MLB seasons. Trout’s .999 OPS ranks eighth in history, and he’s compiled the 57th-highest WAR before the age of 29.

2) Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers

If an injury didn’t cut his 2019 season short and force him to finish second in the voting, Yelich probably would’ve won his second straight NL MVP award. He’s led the NL in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS in each of the last two years. Yelich averaged 40 home runs and 26 stolen bases in those seasons.

3) Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers

Only Trout has had a higher WAR than Betts over the last four years. The outfielder’s average season during that span includes a .306/.384/.539 slash line, 29 home runs and 94 RBI. He has four Gold Gloves, an MVP award and a second-place MVP finish.

4) Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

There’s a reason the Yankees made Cole the highest-paid pitcher ever with a nine-year, $324 million contract. The right-hander has gone 35-10 with a 2.68 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP and 602 strikeouts over the last two seasons. He seized the title of MLB’s best pitcher with a legendary 2019 playoff run, recording a 1.72 ERA and 36.2 innings.

5) Jacob deGrom, New York Mets

deGrom might be as dominant in the postseason as Cole if he got the chance to pitch in October. He’s won two straight NL Cy Young awards after finishing seventh in 2015 and eighth in 2017. The right-hander had a 1.70 ERA in 2018.

6) Justin Verlander, Houston Astros

Verlander won the 2019 AL Cy Young award, coming off a second-place finish in 2018. He was the WHIP leader in both seasons, recording at least 290 strikeouts and a sub-2.60 ERA each year. The 5.5 hits per nine innings he allowed in 2019 were the sixth-fewest in a single season.

7) Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals

No starting pitcher has been more consistently great than Scherzer over the last seven years. He’s never finished worse than fifth in the Cy Young voting since 2013, winning the award three times. The veteran went 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA in the playoffs on Washington’s 2019 World Series run.

8) Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Angels

Rendon hit .328/.413/.590 in 17 playoff games last season, coming up with more clutch hits than any Nationals player. The third baseman set career-highs across the board in the regular season, hitting .319/.412/.598 with 34 home runs and a league-high 126 RBI. Before switching leagues for a $245 million contract, Rendon was the only NL player to hit over .300 in each of the last three seasons.

9) Alex Bregman, Houston Astros

Even in light of the cheating scandal, it’d be hard to put Bregman any lower on the list. He’s the one Astro that improved significantly after Houston ended it’s trash-banging scheme, finishing fifth in the 2018 AL MVP voting and second in 2019. Bregman followed up a 1.178 OPS in eight 2018 playoff games with an 8.4 WAR, a 1.015 OPS and 41 home runs last season.

10) Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers

Bellinger is the reigning NL MVP, hitting .305/.406/.629 with 47 home runs and Gold-Glove defense in 2019. Those numbers were drastically improved from his .814 OPS in 2018, though he’s only getting better at just 24 years old. Bellinger’s career .560 OPS in the playoffs has to get better if the Dodgers want to avoid another postseason disappointment.

11) Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies

Arenado has been a machine over the last five years, never hitting fewer than 37 home runs or driving in fewer than 110 RBI. He’s hitting .300/.357/.575 in those seasons. Arenado is the sport’s best defensive third baseman with seven consecutive Gold Glove awards.

12) Juan Soto, Washington Nationals

It might Soto that eventually replaces Trout as the best player in the sport. In 266 career games, the 21-year-old has hit .287/.403/.535 with 56 home runs. Soto led Washington with a 1.178 OPS and three home runs in the 2019 World Series.

13) Ronald Acuna Jr., Atlanta Braves

After winning the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year award and finishing fifth in the 2019 NL MVP race, Acuna is one of this year’s top MVP candidates. In addition to hitting .280/.365/.518 with 41 home runs last year, Acuna led the league with 127 runs scored and 37 stolen bases at just 21 years old.

14) Jose Altuve, Houston Astros

Don’t think that Altuve’s past success was simply the result of sign-stealing. Even without his 2017 AL MVP award, the second baseman still has two batting titles and three seasons as the AL hits leader. Altuve dealt with a back injury in the first half of 2019, and he still managed to hit .298/.353/.550 with a career-high 31 home runs.

15) Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals

There might be no better active big-game pitcher than Strasburg. He posted a 1.98 ERA in 36.1 playoff innings last year, culminating with the 2019 World Series MVP award. Strasburg has a 1.46 ERA in his playoff career with a 3.17 ERA in the regular season.

16) Matt Chapman, Oakland Athletics

Several metrics suggest that Chapman has been a top-seven player in the AL, at worst, over the last two years. The third baseman finished seventh and sixth in MVP race in 2018 and 2019 respectively, while his 8.3 WAR in both seasons ranked in the top six in MLB. Chapman won the Gold Glove award and slugged over .500 in each year, as well.

17) Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves

Freeman has been one of MLB’s most underrated players, hitting .293/.379/.504 during his 10-year career. The first baseman hit over .300 each year from 2016-2018 and set a career-high with 38 home runs in 2019. Freeman has three top-eight MVP finishes in the last four years.

18) Xander Bogaerts, Boston Red Sox

With the departure of Betts, Bogaerts became the best hitter in Boston’s lineup. The shortstop has improved his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage by at least .15 points in each of the last two years, resulting in a .309/.384/555 slash line in 2019. He’s also increased his home run total from 10 to 23 to 33 during that time.

19) Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians

There’s a reason why Lindor is the most sought-after player on the trade block. The 26-year-old was the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up and has since made four straight All-Star teams. Lindor has hit .288/.347/.493 in his career, hitting at least 32 home runs in three consecutive years.

20) Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians

After consecutive third-place AL MVP finishes, Ramirez hit a modest .255/.327/.479 in 2019. The third baseman did hit .327 with a 1.105 OPS in 44 games after the All-Star break, a sign that his poor first half might have simply been an extended slump. Ramirez has averaged 42 doubles and 30 home runs over the last three seasons.

21) Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

Judge is a top-10 player when healthy, but he’s had trouble staying on the field since it appeared he was set to become the face of the sport. Since leading the AL with a 7.9 WAR and 52 home runs as the 2017 MVP runner-up, Judge has missed 110 games over two seasons. He has a career .952 OPS and is an above-average right fielder.

22) Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox

If the leap that Devers took from 2018 to 2019 is any indication, he’ll be a top 2020 AL MVP candidate. The third baseman hit .311/.361/.555 with 32 home runs and 115 RBI last year, leading the league with 54 doubles and 359 total bases. He’s only 23 years old.

23) Javy Baez, Chicago Cubs

If it hadn’t been for Yelich’s incredible September, Baez would've been the 2018 NL MVP. He ranked third in defensive WAR among all players in 2019. Baez has hit 63 home runs with 196 RBI over the last two years.

24) Pete Alonso, New York Mets

Alonso’s 2019 was reminiscent of Judge’s first year. The first baseman led MLB with 53 home runs and finished seventh in the NL MVP race as a rookie. If Alonso can come close to replicating his .260/.358/.583 splits for another season, he’ll climb this list for the 2021 season.

25) Jake Flaherty, St. Louis Cardinals

Flaherty was untouchable in the second half of last season, recording 124 strikeouts, a 0.91 ERA and a 0.72 WHIP in 99.1 innings. After coming up short in his one NLCS start, Flaherty should return with a vengeance as a top Cy Young contender. The 24-year-old has a 3.20 ERA in 368.2 career innings.